CATTLE THROWING

Hokitika Guardian, 31 July 1924, Page 3

CATTLE THROWING

THF. Al'ST'll.U.lAN .MF.TIIOD

(Sydney •‘Mertild.”)

The prosecutions of cruelty to animals at Wembley has created an interest in the roping and throwing of cattle. Little does the average citizen know, as he itf reading his morning imper containing the accounts of the spectacular display of riding bronchos and steep-roping bv tile American cowboys at Wembley, that here in the Australian hush hundreds of white and black stockmen every day are showing perhaps a greater degree of skill, kiusemanslnp, jind finesse, than the American cow hoys. The Australian bushmaii is j list a little scornful of the gaudy finery, the heavy clumsy saddles, the bullying curbs, and the great heavy spurs of the cowboys. All these things may he quite all right for "movie stunts,’’ but in the everyday work of attending to herds of cattle to the Australian they seem out of place. The Australian cattleman is simple, modest, and offi-

.lent. There si iv hundreds of bushmen si lid :i: l livi• boys on the outback esittle stalions id' A list r:i list that csui ride smv lonic jumper ever foaled. They also hove n method of throwing esittle thsil is perhaps superior to the American method. The Australians do not use si rope. On all the hiy; outback cattle stations there is always si poreontace of •■clean skins,” that is, cattle that have been missed in the musters and have crown up wild. These cattle become unruly, and if they are not rounded up and looked sifter they make the rest of the herd wild. Wild) CATTLK. Wild cattle are oonorally (except perhaps in very scrubby country) a. sien of uiisnianatreinent. However, when the stockmen round up these wild cattle into a ipliet mob they very often try lo break away. l’crhaps a yoiine bull, a "mickey,” will rare out ol the mustered mob and make a bid lor freedom. A stockman bears down upon the bull, and swineiue his whip tries to wheel the lull! back into the mob. The bull may have escaped before, and will not ejve in without si lioht. The bull refuse's to turn. The mail and horse watch the bull; they know the bull is ready to Use those sharp horns of hi-. Waiting his chance, the stockman pulls in behind the bull, and then dashine oil at lull callup he leans forward, catches the bull’s tail, and civics a pull forward. The bull's bind le.es cross, he trips, and collies to the croitnd with a terrible crash. Dazed, and with the wind knocked out of him, the beast may be ready to return to the mob; if not. the stockman throws the bull aoaiu. and this time immediately the bull is throw'll the horse props, the rider is oil' in a second, and, seizinc the uppermost hind lee of the bull, he is able to hold it until assistance arrives. The bull is dealt with whilst upon the croitnd. There is a oreat knack in holdiiic a beast down. Once down, a man can hold a farce beast. In the case oT a small beast, or oven a full-crown one that i- weak and poor, one man eaa manage the treatment by himself. However, this is the method on the open plain country, but in the scrub country a different one is used. Here it is also that the Australian is mi much better than the American. The Americans use a rope, but they could not u-e a ropi* in timbered or much country

lil'Sll FKATK. Probably ihi‘ must skilled eattlethrowers 111 Alls! I iiliii cattle I'rnm the dense scrubs on t lie Dawson 1{ ivt-r. (.luceitslnnd. In llm .-itiili country n I >ll s1 1 in:i 11 races liltin' :i "scrubber." mill unit' until tlm beast begins to "blow." Tlion tlm buslutmn jumps oir the hors.' whilst it is i-jint*-ri n.'i. lie him!' immediately lit tile back ol till' Innist, M'i/:os its tail, ami with one swing the l-ioa.st tali' St ralege to say. a Inni'l very 'cldom tries to kick. ami. moreover, it it tries to “ore the mail pulling at its tail it ovei-lialanees mole easily. Ol eoiirse. ill the ease ol hie. powertnl. full-grown hulls a luillei is the only methoil. or sometitne' two or tlnee cattle doy' hanging- on to the hull’s Hose. The young native hoys heroine very skilled at cattle-throwing. and they take great delight in trying l" oxeel each other in all llio'e Ini'll feats. The Amerieaii' are tiny elever with the re lII'. lull that method would ho too slow in Australia. On Victory Hivcr Douii' and Wave Hill, in the Northern Territory. the two largest cattle slalioiis in Australia up to twenty thousand calves a year aie hranded. All the branding is done in ■, arils. The American method would |,e too slow. and too hard on the horses. The Australians have no "swank.” hut plenty ol skill.